The Creeping Flesh

Prof. Emmanuel Hildern (Peter Cushing), a Victorian era scientist is shown in what appears to be a laboratory meeting a young doctor. Hildern excitedly tells the doctor that he needs help because he has discovered a form of evil that is real, a living being, and that he has unwittingly unleashed the evil thousands of years too soon. Hildern then recounts how his discovery was made.

In a flashback, Hildern recounts his return in 1894 from an expedition to New Guinea where he has discovered an abnormally large humanoid skeleton. Paradoxically, the skeleton is far older than previously recovered specimens, but also much more advanced. Hildern hopes the discovery will earn him the prestigious Richter Prize. Hildern has little time to rejoice before receiving word that his wife, institutionalized for years, has finally died. This he learns from his brother James Hildern (Christopher Lee) who runs the asylum where Hildern's wife had been held in secret. While visiting the asylum, James tells his brother that he made a psychiatric study of Hildern's wife and plans to publish the findings in the hope of winning the Richter Prize. He also tells Hildern that he will no longer subsidize Hildern's expeditions.

Returning home and to the skeleton, and with a new urgency to complete his research, Hildern discovers that the skeleton grows flesh when exposed to water. Hildern reviews myths of ancient peoples of the region where the skeleton was discovered, which tell of evil giants who will be roused by rain. Hildern theorizes that the skeleton is the remains of one of those evil beings, and would not have been discovered before for thousands of years of erosion revealed its resting place. By that time, the science of the region's inhabitants would have grown sophisticated enough to deal with the evil. Hildern makes a further conclusion - if evil can live as an organism, then it can be biologically contained and eradicated like a disease. Using cells formed around the skeleton's fleshy finger - which Hildern removes - he develops what he believes to be a serum against evil. Testing the serum on a monkey, Hildern notes positive results.

Meanwhile, Hildern's daughter Penelope learns of her mother's death. Having been told for years that her mother was dead, Penelope reacts with shock when learning that her mother had been alive and institutionalized all that time. Worried that Penelope's emotional outburst may be a sign that she has inherited her mother's insanity, Hildern injects her with the serum.

The next day Hildern is shocked to see that the monkey has gone berserk, having gained the strength to escape from its cage and wreak havoc in the lab. Penelope has also left the house and made her way to the city, where she assaults several men at a tavern and then, when chased by the other patrons, murders another man at a warehouse. Because the dead man was himself an escapee from James Hildern's asylum, James has sent men to the city. There they apprehend Penelope and bring her to the asylum, where a blood test reveals the serum. James realizes that his brother has experimented on Penelope, which could unleash a scandal should it become known to others. Since James's experiments have stalled - threatening his own chances of winning the Richter Prize - James decides to steal his brother's research, including the skeleton.

James's thief carries the skeleton out of the lab and unwittingly exposes it to rain. When the carriage taking the skeleton overturns, the skeleton - now coming alive - escapes. Hildern tries to follow the carriage, but turns back when he sees an ominous cloaked figure nearby. Returning home, Hildern finds that the skeleton's fleshy finger has begun to move. Terrified, Hildern throws the finger into the fire. Soon, the creature, now encased in flesh but otherwise hollow, returns to Hildern's house and terrorizes him, but spares his life.

Hildern finishes his account and the story returns to the lab seen at the beginning of the film, Hildern's lab is revealed to be a cell in his "brother’s" asylum, and Hildern an apparent inmate there. The visiting physician consults with James who scoffs at Hildern's claim to be related to James at all, or that Penelope - who is also being kept at the asylum, having gone completely insane - is his daughter. James finds it normal for his patients to want to identify with him, seeing that he's an obvious authority figure. James tells the doctor that the man claiming to be his brother had arrived there about the time that James won the Richter Prize. The camera returns to Hildern's cell, which no longer resembles a laboratory. A distraught Hildern pleads for someone to help him. The final shot is of Hildern's left hand, which is now missing a finger matching the one that he had removed from the skeleton.

It is left for the viewer to decide if Hildern's account was true or is merely the delusion of a madman.

• Christopher Lee – Dr. James Hildern
• Peter Cushing – Prof. Emmanuel Hildern
• Lorna Heilbron – Penelope Hildern
• Jenny Runacre – Marguerite Hildern
• George Benson – Prof. Waterlow
• Kenneth J. Warren – Charles Lenny
• Duncan Lamont – Inspector
• Harry Locke – Barman
• Hedger Wallace – Dr. Perry
• Michael Ripper – Carter
• Catherine Finn – Emily
• Robert Swann – Young Aristocrat
• David Bailie – Young Doctor
• Maurice Bush – Karl
• Tony Wright – Sailor
• Marianne Stone – Female Assistant
• Alexandra Dane – Whore
• Larry Taylor – Warder #1
• Martin Carroll – Warder #2
• Dan Meaden – Lunatic
• Sue Bond – Girl in Tavern

Freddie Francis replaced Don Sharp as director at the last minute.[1]

The creping flesh was produced by Tigon British Film Productions, and directed by Freddie Francis. The film was released in the UK on January 1, 1973. According to Donato totaro, editor of the online film journal Offscreen, said, "The creaping flesh was made at the tail end of a productive five year run for producer Tony tenser at tigon pictures (the studio ran until 1985)." [2]

The director of photography of The creaping flesh was Norman Warwick. Norman Warwick (1920–1994) was a British cinematographer. [3] The movie uses a lot of flashbacks, which is one of the features of the film. Frist, the film has a single color, but plenty of light. High-key lighting are used in some scenes, and low-key lighting are used in some horrible and gloomy scenes. Second, Norman Warwick is credited with the film's photography. Although most of the horror films use fixed lens, a large number of close-up shots and some pushing shots still scare the audience.

Thorpe House, Coldharbour Lane, Thorpe, Surrey, England (also the location for Craze (film), 1973) Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England [4]

The Creeping Flesh, an interesting film, has received both praise and criticism. The film starred two icons of British horror, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, and was filmed late in the cycle of British Gothic horror films that lasted from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s. The style of this film is similar to that of many films from Hammer Film Productions, but it has not achieved anything like the fame of Hammer's The Curse of Frankenstein or Dracula (1958 film). The Creeping Flesh's director, Freddie Francis scattered the film into too many loose pieces about the family, which made the audience uneasy. According to Gary Susman, author and columnist of AOL Moviefone's blog, "you can read the whole thing as a satire, on Victorian sexual expression, dated science, and imperialism, but it's easiest just to sit back and scream at the elegant creepiness of Cushing and Lee or the awful spectacle of that wriggling finger." [5]

Newspaper review

Roger Greenspun in his review of The Creeping Flesh for The New York Times, opined, “With so much celebrated acting talent in front of the camera — Robert Shaw, Mary Ure, Sally Kellerman, Signe Hasso — with Laszlo Kovacs as cinematographer behind the camera, and with a screenplay partly by Lewis John Carlino, one might have expected something good. At the very least, one might have expected a more interesting failure than "A Reflection of Fear,"”[6]

Contemporary reviews

Donato Totaro in his review of The Creeping Flesh for online film journal Offscreen, opined, “Although The Creeping Flesh is unevenly paced in moments and contains a sometimes maligned plot, a close analysis reveals a film marked by an interesting use of parallel montage, subtle thematic meaning imparted in the mise en scène, and a possible social message submerged within the slightly ludicrous apocalyptic scenario, dealing with the suppression of women in Victorian England (it would be too much of a stretch to read this as feminist)." [7]

The film currently has an 80% approval rating based on 5 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.

• The Creeping Flesh on IMDb
• The Creeping Flesh at AllMovie
• The Creeping Flesh at Rotten Tomatoes